How to Plant Potatoes

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How to plant potatoes comes down to four choices: how you prepare the seed pieces, how deep you set them, how far apart you place them, and when you pull soil up around the stems. Three university extension guides cover these steps. They agree on the method, but they do not give the same numbers, so this guide sets out what each one says and where the figures part ways.

Quick answer

Cut large seed potatoes into pieces that each carry at least one eye, and let the cut sides callus before planting.
The depth figures differ: 1 to 2 inches in the Arizona guide, 4 inches in the Iowa State guide, and 3 to 5 inches in the North Carolina State guide.
Plant once the ground can be worked, or once the soil reaches 50 degrees F, then hill soil around the stems as they grow.
Keep tubers covered and dark, and water on a steady schedule through tuber development.

Start with seed potatoes that are ready to plant

Start with seed stock, not leftovers from the grocery store. The North Carolina State Extension guide recommends certified seed potatoes from a garden supplier, which it says help ensure true-to-type varieties. It also notes that grocery potatoes can be used, but they do not perform as well as seed stock.

The Arizona guide adds a storage step before you cut anything. It says to store seed potatoes in a cool dark place at 50 to 60 degrees F when they arrive. In a week or so, the guide says, they may begin to sprout.

Cut the seed so each piece carries an eye

Each piece of seed needs at least one eye, the bud on the tuber from which new stems and roots form. The North Carolina State guide describes pieces that weigh at least 2.5 ounces and each contain at least one eye. Iowa State says large potatoes should be cut into sections, each with one or two eyes or buds. It also says small potatoes may be planted whole.

The Arizona guide gives a specific cutting pattern. It suggests cutting each seed potato into five or six pieces, with an eye near the center of each piece. Pieces cut this way need time to heal before they go in the ground. The Arizona guide says the cut pieces can lie exposed to air for 24 hours before planting to allow them to callous over. Iowa State gives the same advice in its own words: allow the cut ends to callus before planting.

The North Carolina State guide also explains the tradeoff between cut and whole seed. It says you can plant whole seed potatoes without cutting them into pieces, but plants from large, uncut seed potatoes will need additional space to support large vines.

Choose a planting depth, and expect the guides to differ

Depth is where the three guides differ most. The North Carolina State guide says to plant potatoes in furrows 3 to 5 inches deep. The Iowa State guide says to plant potatoes 4 inches deep. The Arizona guide describes a quicker method: open the soil with a shovel and place the seed potato with the eye or sprout facing up, about 1 to 2 inches deep. The Arizona guide also says the deep trench many gardeners dig is not necessary.

None of the three guides gives a soil-type rule that explains the gap between 1 to 2 inches and 4 inches. The Iowa State guide does not give a depth for heavy or light soil either. For a practical plan, start with the depth from the guide that matches your region and garden conditions, then check the planting depth against your local extension office before you dig.

Set spacing and row width

The spacing figures are closer together than the depth figures. The North Carolina State guide says to space seed pieces 8 to 10 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart. The Iowa State guide says to set seed pieces about 1 foot apart, in rows 2 to 3 feet apart. The Arizona guide gives row width only, saying the rows should be about 30 to 36 inches apart.

Using those figures, you can estimate how many pieces a row will take. Our own arithmetic, from the Iowa State and North Carolina State spacing, gives about 10 pieces in a 10-foot row at 1 foot apart, and about 12 to 15 pieces at 8 to 10 inches apart. That number is a planning estimate, not a figure from any of the sources. The North Carolina State guide gives a seed rate for the same kind of job: twelve pounds of seed potatoes should plant 100 feet of row.

The yield figures also help with planning. The Iowa State guide says the average yield with good management practices should be 20 to 30 pounds per 10-foot row. The Arizona guide puts a smaller bed in its own terms: five pounds of seed potatoes will yield between 45 and 70 pounds of potatoes and will need a garden area of about 10 by 12 feet. Dividing the Iowa State row yield by 10 plants gives about 2 to 3 pounds per plant, our arithmetic from its figures, and that is an estimate of what one plant might give under good care rather than a promise.

If you are planning a bed rather than ground rows, see our guide to vegetables to plant in raised beds for the crops that fit that spacing. For a bed that holds more than one crop, see raised bed companion planting layouts.

Prepare the soil and feed it at planting

Iowa State and Arizona both ask for good drainage and plenty of sun. The Iowa State guide says potatoes prefer loose, well-drained, fertile, slightly acid soils, and that the planting site should receive at least six hours of direct sun each day. The Arizona guide says potatoes are best grown in well-drained soil with full sun. It advises loosening the soil with a broad fork or shovel and working two to four inches of compost into the top 10 to 12 inches.

Organic matter is an area where the guides disagree. The Arizona guide recommends adding compost. The Iowa State guide says not to apply large amounts of organic matter, such as manure, to the soil where potatoes will be grown. It also says that adding organic matter may increase the occurrence of potato scab. Read the two guides together: two to four inches of compost is the Arizona recommendation, and large amounts of manure are what Iowa State warns against.

For fertilizer, the North Carolina State guide says to base the choice on a soil test from your extension office. Without a test, it recommends 10-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet, worked in at planting. The Iowa State guide gives a different rate: 1 to 2 pounds of all-purpose garden fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, per 100 square feet. Converted to the same unit, the North Carolina State rate is 1 pound per 100 square feet, which is the bottom of the Iowa State range. The Arizona guide adds that a soil test can show other nutrients that may need to be added, such as phosphorus.

Pick the planting date for your region

The three guides name different windows, and each one is tied to its own climate. The North Carolina State guide says to plant between February 15 and March 31 for eastern North Carolina locations. The Iowa State guide says to plant as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring. It describes the usual timing as early to mid-April in the central part of Iowa, a week earlier in southern Iowa, and a week later in northern Iowa.

The Arizona guide ties planting to soil temperature rather than to a calendar date. It says to plant once the soil has been amended and soil temperatures have reached 50 degrees F. It also says potatoes can be planted beginning in late April or early May and then throughout the summer. The Iowa State guide adds a warning about folklore. It says that because the holiday moves from year to year, planting on Good Friday may put planting too early or too late.

Hill the stems and keep the tubers covered

The North Carolina State guide says to pull a ridge of soil over each row when you plant, then repeat that process after the plants break through the surface. The Arizona guide says to hill the potatoes with a few inches of soil once the plants reach about six to eight inches. It says hilling increases the amount of stem in contact with the soil, which can increase yields.

Hilling keeps tubers out of the light. The Iowa State guide says hilling provides loose soil for potatoes to develop and prevents tubers from being exposed and turning green. The Arizona guide explains the color change: the green color is undesirable and is caused by the compound solanine. It also states that green potatoes should not be eaten.

The Iowa State guide says cultivation should be shallow, 2 inches or less, to avoid damaging the potato plant’s roots or tubers. It describes pulling or mounding soil around the bases of the plants with a hoe, rather than digging deep between the rows.

Water on a steady schedule

Water is the other part of planting that affects the crop. The Iowa State guide says that like most other vegetables, potatoes require 1 inch of water per week during the growing season. It adds that the need is especially high during tuber development, which typically begins in early to mid-June. For dry weeks, it says to water deeply once a week.

The Arizona guide puts the same point in terms of consistency. It says to irrigate often to maintain constant soil moisture. It also warns that erratic irrigation stresses the plants and can result in dry pockets, called hollow heart, inside the potatoes.

Mistakes to avoid when you plant

Planting grocery potatoes as seed. The North Carolina State guide says they do not perform as well as seed stock.
Using large uncut seed in a tight row. The same guide says uncut seed needs extra space for the vines.
Leaving tubers exposed. Both the Iowa State and Arizona guides tie hilling to keeping tubers from turning green.
Adding heavy manure. The Iowa State guide advises against large amounts of manure in the planting bed.
Watering in bursts. The Arizona guide links erratic irrigation to hollow heart.
Eating green tubers. The Arizona guide says green potatoes should not be eaten.

Count the days to harvest

The North Carolina State guide says potatoes average 100 to 120 days to maturity. The Iowa State guide says most potato cultivars mature 90 to 120 days after planting. The Iowa State guide also says new potatoes can be dug when the tubers are more than 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and that small immature potatoes have thin skins and do not store well. For storage, the Iowa State guide says potatoes grown for storage should be harvested after the vines have died and the crop is mature.

Harvest timing, curing and storage are separate steps, and this guide stops at planting and hilling.

How we chose

We opened three extension pages on 2026-10-22: the NC State Extension Pamlico County news article, the Iowa State University Extension growing guide for home gardens, and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Backyard Gardener sheet on Irish potatoes. We kept each planting step that at least one of the opened pages states in plain words, and we show the figures side by side wherever the pages give different numbers. Where one page gives a number and the others give none, we say so instead of filling the gap.

We left out search snippets, commercial sites and any page we could not open. The figures in the spacing and yield paragraphs are our own arithmetic from the numbers the pages give, and each calculation names its inputs.

What we could not verify

The sources we opened are regional guides written for specific climates, so a planting window from Iowa or eastern North Carolina may not match your area. We did not check any fertilizer product, seed supplier or variety for performance, and this guide does not recommend one.

What the sources do not say

The pages we opened do not explain why the planting depth ranges from 1 to 2 inches in Arizona to 3 to 5 inches in North Carolina. They do not give a depth for heavy soil or light soil in Iowa, and they do not give a single planting date that fits every garden. The Arizona spacing sentence is garbled in the PDF text, so we did not use it. None of the pages gives a planting rate per square foot other than the fertilizer figures above, and none of them compares seed potatoes from different suppliers.

Frequently asked questions

How deep should you plant potatoes?

The guides differ. The North Carolina State guide says 3 to 5 inches in furrows, the Iowa State guide says 4 inches, and the Arizona guide says about 1 to 2 inches. Pick the figure from the guide closest to your region, then hill the stems as the plants grow.

Do seed potatoes need cutting before planting?

Not always. The Iowa State guide says small potatoes may be planted whole. Large potatoes should be cut into sections with one or two eyes each. The North Carolina State guide notes that uncut large seed needs more room for the vines.

How far apart should potato plants be?

The North Carolina State guide says 8 to 10 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart. The Iowa State guide says about 1 foot apart, in rows 2 to 3 feet apart. The Arizona guide gives 30 to 36 inches between rows.

When is the right time to plant potatoes?

Plant when the ground can be worked. The Iowa State guide says planting usually falls in early to mid-April in central Iowa. The Arizona guide ties planting to soil that has reached 50 degrees F. The North Carolina State guide gives February 15 to March 31 for eastern North Carolina.

Why do potatoes need hilling?

Hilling keeps tubers covered, and the guides tie it to preventing green tubers. The Arizona guide says green potatoes should not be eaten because the green color is caused by solanine. It advises hilling once the plants reach about six to eight inches.

Bottom line

Cut large seed so each piece carries an eye, let the cut sides callus, plant at the depth your regional extension guide gives, and hill the stems as the plants grow. Keep watering steady through tuber development.

Sources

https://pamlico.ces.ncsu.edu/news/homegrown-potatoes-tips-for-a-successful-harvest/ (opened 2026-10-22)
https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/growing-potatoes-home-garden (opened 2026-10-22)
https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/attachment/IrishPotatoes.pdf (opened 2026-10-22)